What is the ‘Pareto Principle’
The Pareto principle is a principle, named after economist Vilfredo Pareto, that specifies an unequal relationship between inputs and outputs. The principle states that 20% of the invested input is responsible for 80% of the results obtained. Put another way, 80% of consequences stem from 20% of the causes; this is also referred to as the “Pareto rule” or the “80/20 rule. This principle serves as a general reminder that the relationship between inputs and outputs is not balanced.
Pareto first noticed this while cultivating a vegetable garden. Twenty percent of his bean plants provided for eighty percent of the harvest of beans. Ergo twenty percent of his cultivating efforts accounted for eighty percent of the yield. Our focus today will be about how this relates to healing the mind. I can hear you ask, “whats wrong with my mind, does it need healing”. I would say that only you can answer that. Ask yourself if you are completely happy and at peace all of the time. And yes, it is possible to be! The only question is do you want to be, for many people mumble these words to themselves but few say them loud and mean them.
What is healing the mind. Healing the mind consist of removing the blocks to ones realization of complete peace and joy. In this view one is simply returned to his natural state, for it is completely unnatural to be in any other state. One may have learned to be comfortable with his unnatural state but this is just a substitute. So, you want Peace, you do not have it now, how does one remove all of the veils of confusion and distortion in order to realize it.
The chains of bad habits of thinking are to light to feel until they appear to be too heavy to be broken.
We are working with out thought system now. For it is our thoughts alone that create our world. To attempt to present this idea I will use a thought from Willie Shake-a-spear. He wrote “There is neither right or wrong only thinking makes it so”. I would like to expand that idea in this way. Picture a beautiful mountain full of fall colors in the trees. Now picture a mountain of garbage. These two pictures are the same only our thinking separates them.
How is this idea relate to healing the mind? Once one comes to see that all of the images are the same, he may look at the possibility of turning inward to purify his thoughts. When I say purify I mean to throw out all of the ones that do not bring peace. Discard all thoughts of grievances with others or oneself. Ultimately stop all judgement of situations and circumstances. Make no decisions and have no opinions. Full stop! I call it a return to zero everything.
Seek not to change the world but seek to change your mind about the world and all of the world changes with it.
This is done within the mind and not in the world. Sure we will have to decide on clothes to wear and what to eat if we choose to. Having no opinion just means to stop and listen to the mind. Where does this opinion, this mental stance come from, who taught it to me and why is it meaningful for me to hold onto it.
How does the Pareto principle relate to these thoughts. Most of us spend ninety-nine percent of our time chasing things out in the world that we believe will make us happy. If one really cares to look at it – it doesn’t work. Happiness is a state of mind and is not circumstance dependent. It does not depend on what is going on in the world but arises from within a corrected thought system. Am I saying that everyone should spend twenty percent of their efforts on cultivating his thought system and eighty percent on whatever else takes up the time of life? I’m saying that the yield of that twenty percent focus will give back eighty percent of the Peace, Happiness and Joy that we seek.
ArtScienceMind 